Thursday 30 June 2011

New Blog- the HPWA

I've started a new HPANWO blog! The Hospital Porters' Welfare Association blog. See: http://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/

This is a project that's been milling around inside my head for some time. It's something that is very noticably lacking in ther world of Hospital Portering, and it's very much needed indeed! Well, now that has been remedied!

The purpose of the HPWA is best described in the Mission Statement:
The Hospital Porters’ Welfare Association is a new charity and support community established to provide care and support for the approximately 9000 serving Hospital Porters in the UK and the even greater number of retired and former Hospital Porters. Today thousands of Hospital Porters and ex-Hospital Porters live under the pressure of poverty, isolation, indignity and social violence leading to suffering, a poor quality of life and increasing mental and physical health problems stemming from their sacrifice to the Hospital Portering Service, the National Health Service and private health practices; and the patients whom they play such a vital part in caring for. Our mission is to build a better present and future for Hospital Porters across Britain and eventually throughout the world by giving financial support, counseling and comradeship. In doing so we hope to also raise the public profile of Hospital Portering and increase awareness of this noble profession.

I've now got a basic plan for the organization; I now need to register it as an official charity and then come up with some rough ideas for action, fundraising and publicity. I might need to start another website as the HPWA becomes more complicated. I've got some thoughts already and I'll let you know as they take form. I'm going to tinker with the blog design a bit too. Pride and Dignity to you all!

Latest HPANWO Voice article: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/diabetes-cure.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/milly-dowler-killer-should-he-be-hanged.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/crop-circles-ikea-and-dreams.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/clarks-chemtrails.html

Latest HPANWO TV films: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/long-lost-ufo-photo-update.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/quitting-my-statute-law-self.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/heres-to-small-local-shops.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/fake-alien-videos.html

Sunday 26 June 2011

What Next for Nick Pope?



Here’s the official website of Nick Pope: http://www.nickpope.net/ Also see the HPANWO Links column.

I was at a conference last year and the cheer went out: “WE WANT POPEY!... WE WANT POPEY!... WE WANT POPEY!” just before Nick Pope’s speech began. It struck me that this man has become an essential and elemental figure at any UFO-themed event, alternative or mainstream. He is one of the world’s best-known UFOlogists and is probably the most recurrent of speakers whom I encounter on the Conference Circuit. In a way, since the departure of J Allen Hynek, he’s probably the world’s only “official" UFOlogist. I’ve got to know him reasonably well and we usually have a good chat when we meet up. In his professional capacity he is very dapper and informative. Unlike many UFOlogists he wears a smart suit and has well-groomed hair; he looks and sounds every bit the Government agent that he was. With accusations of people being Government agents almost endemic and internecine in the Paranormal investigation community, Nick Pope is unique in actually being one, open and publicly. He spent 21 years in the Civil Service, including a stint during the Gulf War of 1990. His UFO work began in 1991 and ended in 1994, but these were three years which changed his life. He was initially a sceptic... even a Skeptic... when he took over the MoD UFO Desk, but after he had examined the evidence he changed his mind and concluded that UFO’s were indeed not man-made objects from this Earth. However he no longer works for the government. He has retired from the Ministry of Defence and now operates as a freelance journalist and media pundit. He gets called up by newspapers and TV stations across the globe to comment on anything UFO-related, on the rare occasions the media discusses UFO’s in anything other than a comedy/novelty story just before the weather forecast and traffic reports. His role in the media began while he was still in the Civil Service. Here’s an old speech he makes where he gives the audience the disclaimer that he is appearing at the conference, X-Con 2004, as a private individual and not in his official capacity: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3130636278818597541# He sometimes comments on the views of his colleagues at the Ministry; as I suspected many consider him something of a pariah! The MoD’s UFO investigation team has been running in one form or another since the 1940’s and tends to err away from the “believer” camp. Sadly in 2009 the UFO Desk, Secretariat AS-2a, was disbanded, much to Nick’s chagrin. In fact I only just got my own sighting report in time: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-ufo-sighting-281208.html Nick has told me to look out for it in the UFO files when they’re declassified. Nick takes a great interest in the ongoing project to declassify the confidential files collated by the UFO Desk over the 60 years it operated. This project is almost complete and you can download the declassified files from the National Archives by following the link on Nick’s site: http://www.nickpope.net/mod-ufo-files.htm . These files are massive PDF documents containing hundreds of thousands of reports. I recommend Nick’s highlights file because the vast majority contain little of interest; they take the stereotypical form of: “Man out walking dog at night on Cannock Chase, saw light in the sky” etc. Contrary to popular belief these are not “Top Secret” files, but merely confidential. They appear less closely guarded than the medical records at my hospital. If there are any Top Secret files out there then they won’t be included in the current UFO project. He’s also a fiction writer, like me, and has written a couple of novels inspired by his UFO research: http://www.nickpope.net/books.htm

For many years Nick Pope has become a household name, going under soubriquets like: “The Man from the Ministry” and “the Real (or Britain’s) Fox Mulder”. UFO experts usually achieve fame, of sorts, only within the limited social circles that people who are interested in UFO’s cruise. Names like Timothy Good, Stanton Friedman and Richard D Hall are ones many UFO-people I know are familiar with, but none of my Brother and Sister Porters have heard of them. However they all know the name Nick Pope! Some see this as ironic, and even suspicious. This is because Nick is renowned for being one of the most cautious UFOlogists in the business. He has gone out on a limb within Government circles by stating that UFO’s are not all weather balloons and marsh gas etc, but he totally rejects any notion that the Government knows more than it is saying. Roswell, Rendlesham Forest and Berwyn Mountains (See: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2011/01/ufo-down-by-andy-roberts.html ) are all incidents in which there is either a rational non-ET explanation, a mistake of some kind; or secrecy for other reasons, like weapons system details or the case being overlooked within declassification procedure etc. This has inevitably led to accusation of him being a disinformer, somebody still secretly working for the Government to quell public distrust or curiosity into their role in UFO incidents. I doubt very much that Nick is a knowing disinformer. He just doesn’t have the right personality; he’s not reserved enough, and he loves to party and let his hair down, like many Civil Service types are wont to do. When the cameras are off and the auditorium deserted, the suit and coiffure usually gets messed up as he props up the bar laughing, swearing and joking with the other speakers and delegates. There are individuals I do suspect of being paid shills, but they exhibit unusual behaviour in their private and social lives too. These individuals will remain nameless at this point, but I can confirm that Nick is not among them. However Nick’s sincere belief that the Government has been perhaps closed-minded and bureaucratic, but nevertheless open and honest about the information it has, that there is no “saucer in a hanger”, suits the agenda of those who might know that Britain does have a saucer in a hanger, or even aliens on ice at Porton Down. This could explain why he has become the media’s first port-of-call on occasions when UFO's cannot be kept off the front pages. If I were a man in Government who knew secret information about UFO’s and aliens then Nick Pope would be the last man on Earth I’d tell!

At the present time I’ve had an indication that Nick Pope’s career is about to take another new turn. This time he’s becoming interested in the very Conspiracy Theories that have so often been levelled at him. I’m a regular reader of the excellent journal UFO Matrix magazine, see: http://ufomatrix.com/ . Nick has a column in it and in the last issue he used it to give a report on the latest UFO Congress in Arizona (Sadly it’s moved from its traditional home in Laughlin, Nevada). In a comment related to Paul Hellyer’s speech he described how the speaker discussed “the banking system... There are many people in the Conspiracy Theory community who cover this subject... some are borderline racists who use the phrase ‘conspiracy of international bankers’ in an attempt to mask their anti-Semitism”. Oh dear! This is an old and very unoriginal line and I must say I’m disappointed to hear it come from Nick. I must concede that he is right in a few cases. There are Conspiracists who believe that what I call the Illuminati are Jews, and they’re hell-bent on exterminating white people, Neo-Nazis for example. But the problem with bringing up this subject is that it has a level of controversy that inevitably descends into hysteria and injustice. Anybody who talks about a global conspiracy, of any kind, is automatically branded anti-Semitic. If we protest our innocence then our accusers will claim that our denial is further proof of our guilt. We’ve seen this with Richard Warman and David Icke in Canada, see: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2912878405399014351# . If somebody accuses you of anti-Semitism then there is no defence; their case is unfalsifiable: In their eyes you are guilty no matter what you say, think or do. I cover this subject in more detail here: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-anti-semitic-are-you.html . Nick has also written about 9/11 and even debated 9/11 Truth Campaigners on TV, see: http://www.nickpope.net/911.htm . I’ve written to Nick to explain that I know that Jews are not the Illuminati "bad guys". But I do however worry about the way international finance behaves towards Planet Earth and the ordinary people who live here. As far as I'm concerned whether the bankers and Jews or Gentiles (And there are more of latter than the former in banking) is irrelevant. If anybody hears me talk about "International Bankers" they'll know that I mean it literally, not as code or a euphemism for "Jews". He’s acknowledged my email politely.

Nick’s interest in general Conspiracy Theories is increasing in pace; in September when he appears at the Weird 11 Conference, see: http://www.weirdwiltshire.co.uk/weird11_ufo_paranormal.htm . You can see that his talk is going to be entitled Lizards and Lies- the Truth about Conspiracy Theories. I’m going to that conference and I’ll be hearing that speech first hand, and I withhold judgment until I’ve seen it in its entirety; however the title Nick has given it, based on previous statements he’s made, makes me guess that it’s going to be a debunker. I’ll write another article afterwards assessing what Nick actually says, but if I disagree with him, which I suspect I will, I’ll do it politely and professionally.

Latest HPANWO Voice article: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/milly-dowler-killer-should-he-be-hanged.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/crop-circles-ikea-and-dreams.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/clarks-chemtrails.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/relative-madness-online.html
Latest HPANWO TV films: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/long-lost-ufo-photo-update.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/quitting-my-statute-law-self.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/heres-to-small-local-shops.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/fake-alien-videos.html

Wednesday 8 June 2011

What if the Skeptics Had their Way?

Background articles: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2008/04/god-delusion-by-richard-dawkins.html
And: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2011/04/paranormality-by-prof-richard-wiseman.html
And: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2010/10/tam-london-2010.html
And: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2010/07/at-least-you-can-trust-skeptics.html

There’s a joke that goes: “Why do dogs lick their bollocks? Because they can.” Believe it or not there’s a thought-provoking message behind this piece of bawdy witticism. How many things do people only choose not to do because they cannot? What would happen if they could?

I tend not to make this common knowledge, but I’m a member of James Randi’s JREF Forum. I go by the soubriquet Porterboy and so far nobody has guessed my true identity (At least that is not until this article is published, because right now an infuriated member of the HPANWO Forum is frantically contacting the administration of the JREF Forum to warn them that they have a mole in their midst. Yes, by the time you read these words I will have been “outed” as an illicit Woo.) I only post occasionally in a “hit-and-run” style, but a subject came up a couple of years ago which compelled me to get more involved in the discussion. This is the subject-thread: The topic concerns a new law introduced by the local authorities in Philadelphia, USA, to curtail the activities of psychic mediums from operating in the city. The Skeptics on the JREF, who will tell you that they believe in civil liberties, almost to a man support this new ruling. This is disappointing, and very sinister; and I’ll explain why in a moment. Sometimes in the Theocratic regions of the United States there will be a case in which an Atheist or Skeptic will be discriminated against by the fundamentalist Christian authorities. For example, a teacher was once persecuted in his school for teaching the children Darwinian Evolution, when he’d been ordered to teach them only Creationism: Adam and Eve, Noah etc. Another example in Britain is Simon Singh, the science journalist who was sued by Chiropractors for calling them “bogus”; see: http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2009/05/bca-v-singh-astonishingly-illiberal.html The Skeptics were up in arms about these actions and I actually agreed with them for being so too. For me it was not a matter of whether or not so-and-so was right or wrong, it was about the rights of Free Speech. However when it came to a case where non-Skeptics were on the wrong end of the law the Skeptical clamours and firebrands went suddenly silent.

I’ve read books and listened to lectures by the most famous Atheists and Skeptics, or maybe we should combine to two, because they usually go together, and call them Atheo-Skeptics. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett; there are quite a few nowadays, part of the “New Atheist" Movement. The things they say are very unequivocal and ruthless: Religion is totally worthless and destructive, in their view. Here are some quotes: “Religion poisons everything” (Hitchens) “Our society is impoverished by superstition and lack of reason!” (Dawkins) “Psychics are either lying or mentally ill!” (Tim Minchin) The issue is totally polarized. There is no "other side of the story", as far as they’re concerned; Dawkins even lambasts Agnostics for not having made their mind up about a question that seems so obvious to him! The most extreme statement made by a radical Atheo-Skeptic must surely be James Randi’s claim that it’s either his way or “back to the caves!” With so much at stake, what lengths would these crusaders-without-a-cross go to? At the moment they’re pretty harmless, even beneficial because they do a good job of breaking through the Church’s power; but at the moment they’re a non-partisan lobby group, a union of individuals with similar interests who hold conferences and meetings and write to MP’s about homeopathy etc. They meet, like old ladies and drink tea and eat biscuits, or get together in informal pub gatherings (See: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2008/12/skeptic-in-pub-81208.html) But what if that situation changed? What if the Atheo-Skeptic Movement ever got hold of some real political power?

I want you to imagine for a moment that a Skeptical Revolution takes control over a part or all of the country you live in. Richard Dawkins or James Randi becomes president, or somebody like them, and they appoint similar people into their Government. The United Skeptical Atheist Republic is born! What would happen? Well there’s an optimistic scenario and a pessimistic one. The optimistic one says that basically people are left to believe in whatever they want, but all the unjust laws that promote and give immunity to religion are abolished in favour of Secularism. The Church of England would be disestablished, the House of Lords Church-based members would need to go through the same elections as the other representatives, faith-based schools would be abolished and blasphemy laws repealed. A few disclaimers on homeopathic or organic products, and that’s it. I’d actually support all those measures. That kind of Skeptocracy would be a great improvement on what we have now.

However there is the pessimistic line, a darker and fairly nightmarish scenario: Religion is banned, all churches either demolished or converted into public buildings. Children forcibly sent to “Science Camps” away from their parents. Religious parents having their children taken into care. Spiritualism and psychics criminalized by a new and harsher version of the Fraudulent Mediums Act. Paranormal investigations banned and believers in the subject declared psychologically unstable. Spiritualist Churches and Gypsy fortune-tellers’ tents burned. Organic food banned. Alternative medicine banned. You think that’s too extreme? You think Richard Dawkins and Jams Randi would never do that because they’re so nice and diplomatic now? History is replete with examples of how small “pressure groups” and even movements for genuine liberation mutate into tyrannies once they achieve the clout to bring their visions to fruition. Feminism is a good example. What was originally a very noble cause to liberate women from genuine oppression has become a regime in which men are now taking women’s former place as second-class citizens. My own town has “Man-Free” zones everywhere. We are prohibited from some shops, public buildings and events, like dogs or tramps! In South Africa today it is the white people who deserve our pity! Whites are finding it hard to get jobs because of Orwellian “positive discrimination” and “reconciliation” movements. They are being increasingly targeted by criminals. More and more people are being deluded into the dangerous fallacy that injustice can be fought by cancelling it out with another injustice; it can’t. All you get is a double-dose of injustice. In whatever Skeptocracy this hypothetical revolution takes, I think I have a right to demand answers because I’m going to be one of the have-nots. In the worst-case scenario, I’d probably end up dead or in an insane asylum. The Skeptics might well say: "It's for his own good. What would be the use of letting him think something so obviously incorrect and immoral!"

So we need to ask ourselves if the reason this hell-hole has not yet emerged is because there is something inherently good-natured and opposed to tyranny that is a fundamental ingredient to Atheism and Skepticism, or is it simply because like in the joke about the dog, they’re simply not able to yet? I ask all Skeptics reading this to look deeply into their own souls... OK you believe you don’t have souls... well, your minds then. Which are you?

I welcome all comments in the boxes below and posts on the HPANWO Forum about this subject.

Latest HPANWO Voice articles: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/clarks-chemtrails.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/06/relative-madness-online.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/05/kevin-annett-has-been-arrested.html
And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2011/05/stephen-hawkings-moment-of-glory.html

Latest HPANWO TV films: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/fake-alien-videos.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-stop-immigration.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/05/happy-st-theos-day-2011.html
And: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/05/st-theos-day-party-2011.html